Dika Mem (right-back of the France team, after the draw against Switzerland 26-26 on the 2nd day of the group stage): "It's not a defeat, but we consider it a defeat, because we didn't expect that at all tonight. I don't want to devalue the Swiss' play, they played well, they had a lot of saves, and we weren't as good as usual, but that's part of the game. We're still alive, so there's no problem. I'm not worried about that, obviously it's going to be tougher (on Tuesday against Germany, editor's note), because we're playing a team at home, but we're used to these matches. We did it last year in Sweden (beaten by Les Bleus in the semi-finals of the 2023 World Cup, editor's note).
»Guillaume Gille, coach of Les Bleus: "Our difficulties are linked to the quality of Andy Schmid's passing, who is a special player at this level. He has a quality of ball release that is quite peculiar. There aren't a lot of guys playing like that. Even if, of course, we were aware of this type of pass and the way he played, we inevitably found that we had a lot of trouble stopping him and making his ratio lower (...) In this game, we never managed to get the ball rolling. I feel like we've always been trying to find our rhythm. And that lack of pace, maybe it cost us a bit of an easier win in the end.
»Ludovic Fabregas, pivot of Les Bleus: "It's a shame to have only taken a point. But again, is it a point lost or a point gained? We'll find out when we do the math. And it all depends on what we can produce in two days' time against Germany. If it can be a wake-up call and get us started, that would be all the better. If it's the beginning of something that squeaks a bit, that would be damaging.
»